Written evidence from Jonathan Chew (DEG0079)

On Monday 7th December Ace Anglia hosted an online session to respond to this inquiry. People with physical disabilities, learning disabilities, autism, and visual and hearing impairments came together to answer the 14 questions posed by the Government Committee. Below are the notes from that meeting.      

1.What has been done to help more disabled people get jobs?

• Nothing
• Some people feel that there is a lack of support
• Not enough as people fee; Job Centred plus need to have their stuff  skilled up to support people with Learning Disabilities
• Some people feel that people having got the time for us

2. What is it like for disabled people who cannot get a job?

• People think that people who have a disability cannot work or have a job
• I have got made redundant from an office job this year
• some employers will reject you due to your disability but will not say it
• I feel rejected because I have a communication disorder because of my Autism
• Makes me feel like S##t
• Low Self Esteem
• Makes me feel rejected
• I feel rejected
• Make me feel that I am not part of society
• I feel that I am not good enough
• This has made me feel stressed in the past
• I want to work, but because of my disability I am judged

3. Do some groups of disabled people find it more difficult to get a job? (like people with learning disabilities?)

• The Job centre have no idea, and they are very pressurising every time I go there, I end up crying anxious
• Yes, I feel that there is a real lack of support for people with Autism
• Yes, I applied for a job 5 times in different locations before getting one, very frustrating and a different attuite of understanding disability in different areas
• Some people find the application and interview system to difficult, even if they can do the job, therefore disability reasonable adjustments are needed,
• I never put that I have a disability on the application form as I know I will be judged.
• Yes as everything is always rushed and doesn’t meet my needs
• Short-term jobs make getting benefits hard as you have to reapply for benefits once job ends
• no jobs
• Yes, it can get complicated due to worry of how it affects benefits. People thinking about working consider the salary of the job and whether it would cover their cost of living pay for housing, bills and medical needs. A part time job will mean they lose ESA and be transferred to Universal Credit. This puts a financial strain on them as they wouldn’t be getting as much money when they combine their salary and Universal Credit. They get more money not getting a job and being on ESA and housing benefits. In other words they are more financially secure not having a paid job.
• To be financially secure people would need to have a well-paid full-time job. This may not be possible due to physical or learning disabilities.
• Concerns over care hours being reduced if they get a job. When in reality they may need more care hours to do a job.

4. And what is it like for them?

• Confusing and frustrating
• Traveling to far causes anxiety
• Its leaves me feeling empty and useless
• Its frustrating as there as I do not know where to go and who to talk to as it feels like nobody understands.
• Feels like no one understands the financial side of having additional needs. If people with a disability get a job then lose it they will have harder time to get another one compared to people without a disability.

5. How has coronavirus affected jobs for disabled people?

• Remote working has helped some disabled people as they have not had to travel, which has reduced people’s anxiety.
• there are lot of people starting up businesses, this might open up opportunities for me.
• Before COVID-19 there were problems employing people with disabilities, so I am not sure this will make a difference.
• There was not enough job opportunities before COVID-19, only voluntary roles in charity shops.
• COVID-19 has shown that we are able to work from home, maybe this will give employers some more scope to employ us in the future.
• COVID-19 could be and excuse not to employ more disabled people too.

6. Which government department should be in charge of helping disabled people to get a job? And why?

• There needs to be a new department that is specialized to support people with disabilities to get into work. They will have the compassion and knowledge and can feed that into other departments
• The Department of work and pensions – the clue is in the title “WORK”
• I have not got a clue
• DWP letting down people looking for jobs and people on benefits
• DWP always pass the buck
• Departments can work together lead by DWP. DWP has an hostile culture in the way they deal with people. If they work with other departments they can change the culture to a more supported a compassionate one. They can share knowledge and expertise to better support people.

7. Can we learn how to do things better from any other countries? Please tell us more.

• Yes
• In Brazil and Romania enforcing reasonable adjustments is done by a government body a bit like health and safety.
• Scotland are very strong about British Sign language
• Yes, as you can always learn from others

8. The Department for Work and Pensions gives support to disabled people with a job and without a job.

• No they are not getting the balance right, they should be making reasonable adjustments a priority so that more people in included and able to access employment
• No they are not getting it right, rather than making people feel bad about not being able to make an appointment, they should ask what would be a good time for you , the whole process just is not fit to support people with different ways of processing information ,(again Reasonable adjustment is key)
• No, they need to treat people with respect
• No, I think they need to give me more time to process what is happening.
• No they need more accessible information to help people understand.
• People with long-term or lifetime disabilities on Universal Credit being told to get a letter from their GP every 6 weeks to prove they still have a disability. This makes people feel like they are not respected and they are on probation and constantly have to prove they aren’t conning the system. 

9. How can the Department for Work and Pensions help firms and organisations employ more disabled people?

• Real positions for people utilizing the things they are able to do
• Empowering and including people and making them feel part of a team and not just a token statistic
• People with Disabilities training up companies and DWP to understand through awareness sessions (DWP employing people with Learning disabilities/and or autism to do this)
• DWP needs to have disability awareness training themselves so they don’t create hostile environments where people with disabilities are too frightened to try and get a job out of fear of being sanctioned.

10. How well is the Disability Confident scheme working?

• What does it mean?
• I do not understand what it is
• Not heard of it
• I don’t know how Widley it s used outside of disability organisations
• I don’t understand what it means for me

11. How could the support from Jobcentre Plus get better?

• Clearer ways to employment services
• More help with online forms
• Respect people when they are having a hard time and don’t make things worse by stopping their money
• To listen a bit more and to help a bit more
• Projects come and, but continuous finding is needed
• I didn’t realise that you couldn’t just drop in , A drop in service would be good for the future .
• Don’t Sanction people, Help them instead
• Train staff to support people with Learning Disabilities and/or Autism
• Co-produce services with disability organisations and people with disabilities. This is the best way to improve support for people with disabilities 

12. Can you tell us about any good ways of supporting disabled people in or out of work during Coronavirus?

• Build up a rapport with the person
• More individualised support
• Really look at peoples needs
• Zoom Calls as this is the tech I like to use
• What’s app video calls
• Embrace the tech that we all use everyday
• Make your systems less complicated for people and make it more person centred

13. Organisations should make some changes to help disabled people do a job. These are called reasonable adjustments

• Flexible working hour for people who can’t work 9-5 hours
• This should be done by all employers
• DWP are not good at reasonable adjustments, They need to lead by example and make reasonable adjustments.
• Work hours need to be considered
• Not overloading people with paperwork
• These are written in law , We need to empower people to know their rights and challenge when they need to.

14. What would you like to see in the Government’s new National Strategy for Disabled People?

• Better rights for people with Disabilities
• Change Culture towards attitudes for people with disabilities
• More education around people rights and choice for people and professionals.
• MPS to stop representing disability negatively
• NO age limit for organisations that support people
• Realistic targets to support more disabled people into work
• I wont to see this subject discussed in the house of Commons/Lords

December 2020